# Multilevel Contributors to Cognitive and Physical Function Decline in Older African Americans

> **NIH NIH R03** · RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2021 · $307,659

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
Maintaining good cognitive and physical health are among the highest priorities for older adults. However,
older African Americans are disproportionately impacted by age-related dementia and physical impairments.
Black-white racial disparities in cognitive and physical function have often been attributed to differences in
chronic disease rates and socioeconomic factors, but disparities persist independently of these factors. Health
disparities arise due to a complex interplay of social determinants across multiple levels but few studies have
focused on the combined impact of these multilevel factors. This proposal aims to develop an ecological model
of age-related decline using latent class analyses integrating social determinants of health and culturally-
relevant predictors of decline among older African Americans. Through this approach we will focus on the
combined impact of these multilevel factors, incorporating the community environment, interpersonal
relationships, and individual factors. As the older U.S. population grows, it is also becoming more diverse; over
the next four decades the older African American population in the US is expected to grow from 4 million to 12
million. Understanding drivers of age-related outcomes as well as identifying culturally-relevant predictors of
impairments among vulnerable populations is crucial to ensure that all people have the opportunity to age
healthily. Through the first aim of this study, we will link community-level data from a variety of sources via
geocoded addresses to data from the Minority Aging Research Study, an ongoing longitudinal study of risk
factors for cognitive decline in community-dwelling African Americans, age 65 years and older who enrolled
without known dementia. We will then identify latent classes of community-level characteristics and compare
interpersonal and individual factors among such classes. In our second aim, we will assess the cross-sectional
and longitudinal associations among multilevel exposures (from Aim 1) and cognitive and physical function. In
our third aim, we will estimate the role of multilevel exposures on incident mild cognitive impairment,
Alzheimer’s disease, and mobility disability. Ultimately, results will contribute to efforts aimed at determining
intervention targets to prevent and treat across several domains of functioning. These results could also be
extended and tested within other racial/ethnic groups to better understand unique factors impacting aging
among other minorities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10190535
- **Project number:** 1R03AG071943-01
- **Recipient organization:** RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Brittney Susanne Lange Maia
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $307,659
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-06-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10190535

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10190535, Multilevel Contributors to Cognitive and Physical Function Decline in Older African Americans (1R03AG071943-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10190535. Licensed CC0.

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